Drafting mechanism for a spinning machine

ABSTRACT

AN IMPROVEMENT OF THE COMMON CARRIER ARM UTILIZED FOR DRAFTING MECHANISMS OF A SPINNING MACHINE. THE CARRIER ARM OF THE INVENTION IS PROVIDED WITH GUIDE ARMS WHICH ARE SUPPORTED IN A THREE DIMENSIONALLY SUPPORTING CONDITION THEREON AND WITH ADJUSTABLE SPRING LOADING MEANS OF TOP ROLLERS WHICH PERMITS CHANGES IN PRESSURE WITH WHICH THE TOP ROLLERS ARE URGED AGAINST IN COOPERATING BOTTOM ROLLERS.

Nov. 16, 1971 NOBUGI OOKI EI'AL 3,619,810

DRAFTING MECHANISM FOR A SPINNING MACHINE Filed Dec. 30, 1969 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Nov. 16, 1971 NOBUGI OOKI ETTAL 3,619,870

DRAFTING MECHANISM FOR A SPINNING MACHINE Filed Dec. 30, 1969 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Nov. 16, 1971 NOBUGI OOKI EI'AL 3,619,810

DRAFTING MECHANISM FOR A SPINNING MACHINE Filed Dec. 30, 1969 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Nov. 16, 1971 NOBUGI OOKI ETAL 3,619,870

DRAFTING MECHANISM FOR A SPINNING MACHINE Filed Dec. 30, 1969 5 Sheets-Sheet 4.

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Nov. 16, 1971 NOBUGI OOKI ETAL 3,619,810

DRAFTING MECHANISM FOR A SPINNING MACHINE Filed Dec. 30, 1969 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 United States Patent 015cc 3,619,870 DRAFI'ING MECHANISM FOR A SPINNING MACHINE Nobugi Ooki and Hideo Okoshi, Fujisawa-shi, Japan, asslgnors to Nippon Seiko Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo,

Japan Filed Dec. 30, 1969, Ser. No. 889,250 Int. Cl. D01l1 /50 US. Cl. 19-282 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The present invention relates to an improvement in the drafting mechanism for a spinning machine, and more particularly to an improvement of the common carrier arm provided with guide arms which are supported in a three dimensionally supporting condition thereon and with adjustable spring loading means of top rollers which permits changes in pressure with which the top rollers are urged against the cooperating bottom rollers.

In the conventional drafting mechanism for a spinning machine in which the bottom rollers are rotated about respective fixed axes on the machines supporting frame and the top rollers are rotatably mounted on a carrier arm which is pivoted to the supporting frame for movement toward and away from the drawing area defined by the bottom rollers location, the guide arms are capable of swinging about the respective supporting pins mounted on the respective supports disposed to the carrier arm in such a way that the movement of the guide arms is limited in a plane parallel to a tangential plane in which the sliver moves, and the top rollers are loaded by means of spring loading which permits changes in pressure to be made in predetermined steps. However, in the abovementioned mechanism, it is inevitable that excessive abrasion of the pivotably connecting portion of the guide arm with the supports of the carrier arm be avoided, and it is also very difficult to compensate for the unparallel condition of the top rollers to the cooperating bottom rollers which is caused by the torsional setting of the carrier arm. Further, the mechanism for pressure change of the top rollers is rather complicated to operate.

A principal object of the present invention is to provide an improvement in the known spring loaded top roller arrangement which is always capable of compensating for the unparallel condition of the top rollers to the cooperating bottom rollers without any manual operation and permits stepwise changes in pressure of the top rollers to the cooperating bottom rollers in a very accurate condition by a simple mechanism.

Other objects and features of the invention will more fully appear from the following description and the accompanying drawings and will be particularly pointed out in the claims.

FIG. 1 is a side view of a drafting mechanism of the invention in a partly fragmentary elevational section,

FIGS. 2 and 3 are side views of the supporting mechanism of the front and back top rollers shown in FIG. 1, respectively,

FIG. 4A is a side view of a modified embodiment of the supporting mechanism of a pair of top rollers, according to the present invention,

3,619,870v Patented Nov. 16, 1971 FIG. 4B is a cross-sectional view of the supporting mechanism, taken along line 4B4B in FIG. 4A,

FIG. 5A is a side View of another modified embodiment of the supporting mechanism of a pair of rollers, according to the present invention,

FIG. 5B is a cross-sectional view of the supporting mechanism, taken along line 5B5B in FIG. 5A,

FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view showing the major elemental portions of the loading mechanism shown in FIG. 2,

FIG. 7 is a development of an outer cylindrical cam of a loading mechanism shown in FIG. 6,

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of the cam mechanism shown in FIG. 2 taken along line IIXIIX for illustrating the relationship of the component elements thereof,

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a modified embodiment of the inner cylindrical element of the loading mechanism according to the present invention,

FIG. 10 is a side view of a modified loading mechanism of the top roller, partly in section, according to the present invention,

FIGS. 11A and 11B are perspective views of the outer and inner cylindrical members of the loading mechanism shown in FIG. 10, respectively,

FIGS. 12A, 12B and 12C are perspective views of combinations of the outer and inner cylindrical members of the loading mechanism shown in FIGS. 11A and 11B, illustrating the relationship of these elements,

FIG. 13 is a perspective view of another modification of the loading mechanism, illustrating a different type of loading-spring, according to the present invention.

For convenience of better understanding of the present invention, a typical embodiment of the drawing mechanism is hereinafter illustrated.

The carrier arm provided with the guide arms and load ing mechanisms according to the present invention is applied for supporting pairs of front top rollers, middle top rollers and back top rollers.

Referring to FIG. 1, each pair of top rollers 1, 2 and 3 is coaxially connected by a shaft of smaller diameter and each shaft of the top rollers 11, 2 and 3 is rotatably mounted on a roller supporting portion of the respective guide arms 4, 5 and 6 so that the top rollers 1, 2 and 3 are supported in parallel condition to the cooperating bottom rollers.

A pendulum arm mechanism utilizing a spherical supporting mechanism is applied for supporting the guide arms 4, 5 and 6 upon the respective supports 7, 8 and 9. Therefore, a three dimensional adjustment of the supporting condition of the top rollers 1, 2 and 3, respectively is capable. Further, a following ability of compensating for the supporting condition of the top rollers in accordance with the rotation of the cooperating bottom rollers is excellent so that the top rollers 1, 2 and 3 can be supported in a complete parallel condition with the cooperating bottom rollers, respectively.

As it is clearly shown in the drawings, a spring loading system is independently applied to each top roller, the top rollers 1, 2 and 3 are urged against the cooperating bottom rollers with the respective constant pressures, moreover, the loading pressure can be easily set by means of applying the step-wise load-changing means to fit for drafing a sliver or roving of various kinds of fibers and thickness with various conditions of the draft ratio. For example, in the case of the front top roller 1, by applying a cam mechanism 11, three kinds of loading pressures such as 10 kg., 13 kg. and 16 kg./two spindles can be applied.

As shown in FIG. 1, a support 7 for the front top rollers 1 secured to a carrier arm 10, while supports 8 and 9 for the second and third top rollers 2 and 3 are 3 mounted on the carrier arm by means of fastening bolts 12 and 13, respectively, in such a way that the mounting positions of these supports 8 and 9 can be easily changed.

Referring to FIG. 2, the detailed mechanism for supporting the guide arm is hereinafter illustrated. A support 7 is secured to the carrier arm 10. A spherical downward projection 16 is formed at a bottom plate of the support 7 so that a spherically shaped downward recess 16a is formed inside of the projection 16. A guide arm 4 is provided with a roller supporting portion 4a at a front end thereof while a spherically shaped upward recess 40 is formed at the other end portion of the guide arm 4 so that the upward recess 40 faces the downward recess 16a of the support 7 with a ball 17 therebetween.

A cam mechanism 11 is secured on a lower side of a top plate of the carrier arm 10 and an abutment member 4b is formed on a middle portion of the guide arm 4 so that the abutment member 4b faces the cam mechanism 11. A helical spring 14 is arranged between the cam mechanism 11 and the abutment member 4b so that the top rollers 1 are urged against the cooperating bottom rollers. In the above-mentioned condition, the end of the guide arm 4 rides on the bottom plate of the support 7 via ball 17 as shown in the drawing. Since the guide arm 4 spherically contacts the ball 17 while the bottom plate of the support 7 spherically contacts the ball 17, even though in cases of an incorrect supporting angle between the carrier arm 10 and the axis of the top roller 1 of incorrect setting of the guide arm 4 which is caused by setting in a torsional condition of the guide arm 4, and of inclination of the top rollers 1 supported by the guide arm 4, the guide arm 4 is capable of turning smoothly in right or left hand directions and upward or downward directions about the ball 17 by a drive force caused by the frictional contact of the top rollers 1 with the cooperating bottom rollers thereby, the parallelism of the top rollers 1 to the cooperating bottom rollers can be attained, satisfactorily. Since the guide arm 4 is supported by the support 7 by applying so-called spherical mutual contacts even though there are certain vibrations caused by the frictional contact of the top rollers with the bottom rollers, the abrasion of the spherical contacting portions is very slight, therefore, the above-mentioned preferable and stable conditions can be maintained for a long period of time. Moreover, since the necessary motions of the top rollers to compensate for the unparallel position thereof to the cooperating bottom rollers is carried out by applying the abovementioned mechanism of the present invention, it is very easy to set up the drafting mechanism of the present invention without particular skill, which is required for precisely setting up the drafting mechanism. Therefore, the manufacturing of the drawing mechanism of the present invention is quite simple.

In FIG. 3, which shows the supporting mechanism of the back top rollers 3, the supporting mechanism of the back top rollers 3 is similar to that of the front top rollers 1 shown in FIG. 2 as hereinafter described. A support 9 is rigidly mounted under the carrier arm 10 by a fastening bolt 13 so that the mounting position of the support 9 upon the carrier arm 10 can be adjusted. A guide arm 6 is provided with an upward spherical shaped recess 60 formed at an end thereof. A ball 17 rests upon a spherically shaped recess 16a formed at an opposite side of a downward spherical projection 16 formed at a bottom plate of the support 9. The ball 17 is gripped by the portion of the spherically shaped recess 6c and the portion of the recess 16a. A helical spring 21 is secured on the the carrier arm 10 against lateral displacement by integral tubular projection 20 on the support 9, and on the guide arm 6 an abutment member 6b is located. The spring 21 is seated on a face of the flanged rim 22 of the abutment member 61').

Another embodiment of the supporting mechanism of the guide arm by the support according to the present invention are shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B. That is, in the embodiment, the spring pressure exerted on the top rollers is constant, since a helical spring 23 is secured to an integral projection on a support 24 and seated on an abutment 26b formed at a middle portion of a guide arm 26 and the spacing of the head face of the abutment 26b from the guide arm 26 is constant.

The supporting mechanism of the guide arm 26 by the support 24 is similar to that of the former illustrated embodiments, that is, a ball 17 is gripped by a portion of spherically shaped recess 26c formed at an end of the guide arm 26 and a portion of spherically shaped recess formed in a bottom plate 16 of the support 24.

Still another modification of the supporting mechanism of the guide arm by the support is shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B. In this modified embodiment, the above-mentioned ball is omitted and both portions of the spherical recess 16b and 260 are directly and slidably contacting each other in a so-called spherical condition. in the above-mentioned modification, the function of the drafting mechanisms are similar to that of the embodiments shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. Therefore, elements having the same function are represented by the same numerals in the drawings of these modified embodiments.

'Referring to FIGS. 2, 6, 7, 18 and 9, the cam mechanism is hereinafter illustrated in detail. The cam mechanism comprises an outer cylindrical member 11a turnably mounted on the carrier arm 10 and an inner cylindrical member lllb coaxially inserted into the outer cylindrical member 11a so that the inner cylindrical member 11b is always urged toward the topof the outer cylindrical member 11a. The bottom edge of the outer cylindrical member 11a is provided with a pair of cam surfaces 34 which are arranged symmetrically with respect to the longitudinal axis thereof. The development of the cam surface 34 is shown in FIG. 7. The inner cylindrical member 1115 is provided with a pair of projections 33 for supporting the respective balls 32 at symmetrical circumferential positions thereof so that the balls 32 supported on the projected portions 33 contact the cam surface of the outer cylindrical member 11a. The cam surface 34 comprises an irregular inclined surface provided with two upward recesses 35 and 37 formed at both ends thereof and an upward recess 36 formed at a middle position thereof. The carrier arm 10 is provided with a pair of straight projections forming guide grooves 10a which are formed at symmetrical side positions thereof so that the balls 32 are capable of moving inside these projections \10a. The above-mentioned relations between the balls 32, outer cylindrical member 11a, inner cylindrical member 111;, and helical spring 14 is shown in FIG. 8. The outer cylindrical member 11a is provided with an upward cylindrical projection 31 coaxially formed at a top surface thereof, and a lateral slit 31a is formed in the projection 31. This projection 31 is turnably engaged with a circular aperture 30 formed in a top plate of the carrier arm 10 when the cam mechanism 11 is mounted on the carrier arm 10 as shown in FIG. 2. Therefore, when a screw driver is inserted into the slit 31a and turned, the outer cylindrical member 11a is turned about the longitudinal axis thereof so that the contacting relation of the balls 32 with the cam surfaces 34 is stepwisely changed, for example the ball 32 contacts the recess 35, 36 or 37. Since the inner cylindrical member 11b is always pushed upward, the pressure with which the top rollers are urged against the cooperating bottom roller can be changed by means of changing the space between the top plate of the inner cylindrical member hlb and the abutment member 4b of the guide arm 4. The above-mentioned changing of the spacing is carried out by changing the contact positions of the ball 32 with the cam surface 34. Therefore, in the above-mentioned embodiment, changing of the loading pressure exerted to the top roller is carried out stepwisely in very simple and precise conditions. A certain modification such as a cam mechanism provided with a similar mechanism to the above-mentioned one except the opposite engaging relationship between a cam surface formed on the top end portion of the inner cylindrical member and a ball supported by the outer cylindrical member, can be applied for the present invention. [As shown in FIG. 9, instead of using the inner cylindrical member 11b shown in FIG. 6, a modified inner cylindrical member 110 can be used for the cam mechanism of the present invention. The member 110 is provided with an integral rectangular plate 39 at a bottom end thereof so that the rectangular plate 39 is capable of slidably contacting with the inner side walls of the carrier arm 10, and a pair of projections 38 are formed at symmetrical positions corresponding to the positions of the projections 33 so that each projection 38 is capable of contacting the corresponding cam surface 34 directly. Since the rectangular plate 39 is always slidably contacting with the inner side walls of the carrier arm 10, any rotation of the inner cylindrical member 1*1c about the longitudinal axis thereof can be prevented when the outer cylindrical member 11:: is turned about the longitudinal axis thereof.

Referring to FIGS. 10, 11A, 11B, 12A, 12B and 12C, another embodiment of the cam mechanism of the loading mechanism comprises an outer cylindrical member 40a and an inner cylindrical member 40b inserted into the outer cylindrical member 40a. The cam mechanism is represented by numeral 40 in PIG. 10. The outer cylindrical member 40a is provided with a guide groove 41 formed in an inside wall so that the guide groove 41 appears as a projection as shown in FIGS. and 11A. The outer cylindrical member 40a is provided with a cylindrical projection 42 coaxially integralled at a top thereof. A cut groove 42a is formed in the projection 42. The inner cylindrical member 4% is provided with a guide groove 43 formed at a corresponding position thereof to the guide groove 41 of the outer cylindrical member 40b. These grooves 41 and 43 comprises a curved portion and a straight portion being parallel to the longitudinal axis of outer or inner cylindrical member, respectively and face each other when the inner cylindrical member 40b is inserted into the outer cylindrical member 40a, and a ball 45 is rotatably supported in a restricted space defined by these two guide grooves 41 and 43. The inner cylindrical member 4% is provided with a rectangular plate 44 integralled at the bottom end thereof so that the rectangular plate 44 is capable of slidably contacting with the inner side walls of the carrier arm 10. Therefore, any rotation of the inner cylindrical member 40b about the longitudinal axis thereof can be prevented when the outer cylindrical member 40a is turned about the longitudinal axis there of. Since a top end of the helical spring 14 is secured to the rectangular plate 44, the inner cylindrical member 40b is always pushed upward as in FIG. 10. Therefore, the pressure with which the front roller is urged against the cooperating bottom roller can be changed by changing the length of the cam mechanism 40. As shown in FIGS. 12A, 12B, 120, the relative positions of the cylindrical members 40a and 40b can be set in three different Ways, that is, the longest engagement of these members 40a and 40b is shown in FIG. 12A wherein the ball 45 is positioned at a space defined by the respected step positions 41a of the guide groove '41 and 43a of the guide groove 43, the shortest engagement of these members 40a and 40b is shown in FIG. 12C wherein the ball 45 is positioned at a. space defined by the step position 43a of the groove 43 and a top end position 41b of the groove 41, while the engaging relation shown in FIG. 12B is an intermediate condition wherein the ball 45 is positioned at a space defined by the step position 41a of the groove 41 and a bottom end position 43b of the groove 43. The upper cylindrical projection 42 engages with an aperture 46 (FIG. 10) of the carrier arm 10 so that the outer cylindrical member 40a can be turned by using a screw driver for the slit 42a, consequently the relative positions between the outer cylindrical member 40a and the inner cylindrical member 40b can be changed directly by turning the outer cylindrical member 40a. In the above-mentioned embodiment, a pair of guide grooves corresponding to the guide groove 41 and a pair of guide grooves corresponding to the guide groove 43 can be applied to the outer cylindrical member 40a and inner cylindrical member 40b, respectively. In this embodiment, this pair of grooves has to be arranged in a symmetrical condition with a phase-difference with respect to the longitudinal axis of the members 40a, 40b, respectively.

By changing the shape of the guide grooves 41 and 43, four step-wise changing of the loading pressure to the top rollers can be assured. In the above-mentioned embodiments, a coil spring is used for generating pressure with which the top rollers are urged against the cooperating bottom rollers, however, another type of spring, for example, a spring 47 shown in FIG. 13, can be used for the above-mentioned purpose.

What is claimed is:

1. In a drafting mechanism for a spinning machine, an improved carrier arm comprising guide arms movably supported therein in a three dimensionally condition and with means for step-wisely adjusting pressure with which top rollers are urged against corresponding bottom rollers separately, each of said guide arms provided with means for supporting a pair of said top rollers at a front end portion thereof and means for supporting a tail-end portion thereof in a three dimensionally movable supporting condition upon a support mounted on said carrier arm and an abutment disposed at a middle portion thereof: said means for stepwisely adjusting said pressure comprising a helical spring mounted on said abutment of said guide arm and a cam means for restricting said space for embracing said helical spring and means for restricting movement of said cam means, said cam means comprises an outer cylindrical member and an inner cylindrical member slidably engaged in said outer cylindrical member and connected to another end of said helical spring and a pair of balls embraced in spaced defined by said outer and inner cylindrical members and said means for restricting movement of said cam means, said means for restricting movement of said cam means comprises a pair of straight guide grooves symmetrically formed on inside side-walls of said carrier arm respectively, said outer cylindrical member is provided with a cylindrical turning means at a top end thereof so that said cylindrical turning means can be turnably engaged with an aperture formed at a top plate of said carrier arm and a pair of cam surfaces symmetrically formed at a bottom edge thereof with a 180 radial phase difference, said inner cylindrical member is provided with a pair of lateral projections formed at intermediate positions corresponding to said cam surface, each of said cam surfaces comprises a plurality of inclined surfaces and a plurality of steps formed at both ends thereof and between said adjacent inclined cam surfaces, respectively, said inner cylindrical member defined engaging position thereof with said center cylindrical member by position of said balls embracing between said lateral projections thereof and said cam surface of said outer cylindrical member, whereby a space for embracing said helical spring is step-wisely changed by means of turning said outer cylindrical member.

.2. In a drafting mechanism for a spinning machine, an improved carrier arm comprising guide arms movably supported therein in a three dimensionally condition and with means for step-wisely adjusting pressure with which top rollers are urged against corresponding bottom rollers separately, each of said guide arms provided with means for supporting a pair of said top rollers at a front end portion thereof and means for supporting a tail-end portion thereof in a three dimensionally movable supporting condition upon a support mounted on said carrier arm and an abutment disposed at a middle portion thereof: said means for step-wisely adjusting said pressure comprising a helical spring mounted on said abutment of said guide arm and a cam means for restricting said space for embracing said helical spring and means for restricting movement of said cam means, said cam means comprises an outer cylindrical member and an inner cylindrical member slidably engaged in said outer cylindrical member and connected to another end of said helical spring said outer cylindrical member is provided with a cylindrical turning means at a top end thereof so that said cylindrical turning means can be turnably engaged with an aperture formed at a top plate of said carrier arm, and a pair of cam surfaces symmetrically formed at a bottom edge thereof with 180 radial phase difference, said inner cylindrical member is provided with a pair of lateral projections formed at intermediate positions so that these lateral projections always contact said cam surfaces, respectively, each of said cam surfaces comprises a plurality of inclined surfaces and a plurality of steps formed at both ends thereof and between adjacent inclined surfaces, said means for restricting movement of said cam means a sliding member secured at a bottom end of said inner cylindrical member so that said sliding means slidably engaged with both side-walls of said carrier arm in a condition of without turning about a longitudinal axis of said inner cylindrical member, whereby said space for embracing said helical spring is step-wisely changed by means of turning said outer cylindrical member.

3. In a drafting mechanism for a spinning machine, an improved carrier arm comprising guide arms movably supported therein in a three dimensionally condition and with means for step-wisely adjusting pressure with which top rollers are urged against corresponding bottom rollers separately, each of said guide arms provided with means for supporting a pair of said top rollers at a front end portion thereof and means for supporting a tail-end portion thereof in a three dimensionally movable supporting condition upon a support mounted on said carrier arm and an abutment disposed at a middle portion thereof: said means for step-wisely adjusting said pressure comprising a helical spring mounted on said abutment of said guide arm and a cam means for restricting said space for embracing said helical spring and means for restricting movement of said cam means, said cam means comprises an outer cylindrical member and an inner cylindrical member slidably engaged in said outer cylindrical member and a pair of balls embracing between said outer and inner cylindrical members, said outer cylindrical member is provided with a cylindrical turning means at a top end thereof so that said cylindrical turning means can be turnably engaged with an aperture formed at a top plate of said carrier arm and a pair of guide grooves symmetrically formed at an inside wall thereof with radial phase diiferences, said inner cylindrical member is provided with a pair of guide groves formed at positions facing said guide grooves of said outer cylindrical member, said balls embraced in the respective spaces defined by said guide grooves of said outer cylindrical member with said guide groves of said inner cylindrical member, each of said guide grooves of said outer and inner cylindrical members comprises a curved groove and a straight groove which is parallel to a longitudinal axis thereof, said means for restricting movement of said cam means a sliding member secured at a bottom end of said inner cylindrical member so that said sliding member slidably engaged with both side walls of said carrier arm in a condition of without turning about a longitudinal axis of said inner cylindrical member, whereby said space for embracing said helical spring is stepwisely changed by means of turning said outer cylindrical member.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,675,587 4/ 1954 Raib-le et al. 19-281 X 2,758,340 8/ 1956 Anderson 19-282 3,037,249 6/ 1962 Hurlebans et a1. 19--282 3,212,139 10/1965 Schmid et al 19282 3,222,731 12/1965 Kramer 19-295 X FOREIGN PATENTS 898,803 6/ 1962 Great Britain 19-295 OTHER REFERENCES Kramer, German application 1,099,917, printed Feb. 16, 1961.

DORSEY NEWTON, Primary Examiner U.S. C1. X.R. l9--295 

